You Were There For Me
by Dave the Wordsmith
Summary: Takes place around 6th/7th season of the show How does Laura begin to see Steve as "days go by"? Find out! One shot.


**You Were There For Me**

It had been an hour since school had let out and after having a few snacks to eat, two young women decided to study for the test that they would have tomorrow. Sitting with her best friend Maxine Johnson on the living room couch, a young seventeen year old Laura Winslow flipped through a few pages in her notebook until she found what she was looking for. Stopping her finger on a particular line, she looked up at Maxine who was staring at her giant Algebra II textbook as if it were written in Greek instead of English. Lightly nudging her on the shoulder, Laura looked up at her best friend who snapped out of the confused trance she was in and smiled nervously in defense.

"Sorry Laura, these problems are just too confusing," Maxine sighed, wringing the collar of her blue shirt in jest. "I'm just not getting them. It's like reading Japanese."

"It's all right, Max," Laura responded. "Steve's tried helping me a few times but it still looks like chicken scratch to me."

"Yeah, it's like…we have to remember all this stuff from Geometry, like…what an obtuse angle is."

"Right…I used to think an acute triangle was a triangle that was a cutie, like Daniel Wallace."

"Don't even remind me of him," Maxine sneered to Laura, who remembered a certain someone who had tried to run off the womanizing Daniel Wallace not once, but twice. Grunting at his name being mentioned, she nodded to Maxine. She remembered why Maxine was upset at Daniel Wallace for the things he had done not only to Laura but to Maxine as well.

"Hey there gals!" The two girls heard a familiar high pitched voice exclaim, followed by the front door of the Winslow home being shut. Maxine rolled her eyes as a person she did not want to see casually strutted right next to her.

"What do you want, Steve?" Laura asked in her usual annoyed tone to the smiling Steve, who was happily gripping both of his suspenders. He suddenly took two red tickets out of his pocket and began waving them in front of Laura, who responded by giving Steve her 'Don't try it' stare.

"Well, baby cakes," Steve Urkel grinned even bigger, strutting in front of Maxine and Laura as he continued to walk around the couch and back over to where Maxine was seated on the side facing the front door. "Today is the first day of the annual Polkapalooza festival, where only the crème de la crème of Polka will be performing, and I've got two tickets. So what do you say, sugar toes?"

"Steve! You already asked me this morning at school and during lunch and I'm gonna tell you for the last time! No, I will not go with you!"

"You see, she called me Steve this time instead of any other name," Steve said looking at Maxine, who was trying her best not to laugh out loud at Steve's false hopes of getting with Laura. "I'm wearin' you dowwwwwwn, baby! I'm wearin' you dowwwwwwwn!" Steve said as he made his exit from the house. However, known to Maxine and already figured out by Laura, he would return later on.

"He sure is persistent, isn't he?" Maxine questioned her best friend with a smile.

"Persistent is an understatement," Laura laughed and shook her head, returning her eyes back to the notes she had lying in her lap while Steve was in the room.

"But I have noticed something, Laura," Maxine put her Algebra II book on the coffee table and turned to face Laura, who was writing a few problems down in her notebook from her study guide underneath. "Steve did make a good point in saying that you were a little more tolerant of him than usual."

"Max, even though he is annoying, stubborn, clumsy, awkward, cantankerous, persis-"

"I get it, Laura."

"Right. But basically, Steve is just a friend. And that's all."

_Uh huh…_ Maxine thought to herself, nodding to Laura on the outside. _But I have the feeling it could be more than that…_

* * *

Laura put herself into her bed after taking her shower, changing into her pajamas, and brushing her teeth. She tried keeping her eyes closed but as soon as she tried to shut them they popped right open. Tossing and turning under the covers for a few minutes, the conversation she had with Maxine that afternoon began to echo almost irritatingly through her mind like it had done during dinner.

"_But I have noticed something, Laura. Steve did make a good point in saying that you were a little more tolerant of him than usual."_

"_Max, even though he is annoying, stubborn, clumsy, awkward, cantankerous, persis-"_

"_I get it, Laura."_

"_Right. But basically, Steve is just a friend. And that's all."_

Looking out of her bedroom window to see the bright full moon shining brightly into her dimly lit room, she remembered the numerous times when Steve would try to serenade her with his accordion outside her window only to fall off of the tree due to losing his balance. Not to mention the time when Steve and Lowell, his runaway orangutan, had managed to make it into Laura's bedroom to hide from being caught. Reluctantly agreeing to keep it for the night, the idea turned out okay until Lowell had escaped and ended up sitting next to her Aunt Rachel during breakfast. Laura began to realize that Steve would do anything for her, even as much as pretend he was her while she studied at the library. She smiled and tried to laugh it off for a minute at the thought that Steve could be more than just a friend.

_Am I really smiling because of Steve? Steve Urkel? Could it be? That I have…feelings…for HIM? I mean, he's just doing it because he's a nice guy, right? But if that's true, why do I continue to treat him like this? If anything, Myra is better for him, right? But he still keeps trying to go out with me._ Laura asked these questions over and over, not believing for a few seconds that she was happy about the things Steve had done for her that any other man wouldn't have done. Sitting up in her bed, Laura sighed and felt her eyes become heavy with a few tears as more and more memories of good things Steve had done for her began to flash before her eyes.

She remembered Steve defending her honor by fighting Willie Fuffner in a boxing match after taking a few boxing lessons from her father.

The day he tried to tell her about how Ted had started the rumor about Laura sleeping with him and she asked Steve and Eddie to help get rid of the rumor.

The time he gave her an expensive ring for their "marriage" even though it was actually a school assignment. But, as he explained, it was the closest he could ever get to marrying her.

The day Steve decided to step into the transformation chamber and change into Bruce Lee in order to get Jack, the man from the bar they had stopped at on the way home from her debate finals, to apologize for calling her a "bimbo" and a "tramp".

Feeling more warm tears beginning to slide down her face, Laura wiped them from under her eyes and moved some of her long hair that had fallen in front of her eyes away to the side.

_Can I really be feeling this way? Why am I crying about Steve? Was Aunt Rachel right those few years ago? Am I really becoming more and more of a friend to Steve? Or could he be…even MORE than JUST a FRIEND?_

_More than just a friend?_

_I liked Ted, Daniel, Rick…even the other boy I've had my eye on for a while: Curtis. But none of them have shown courtesy or cared about me the way Steve has. He's never really done any wrong towards me._

Calming herself down, she began to lie down again on her back. Putting the covers over her to cover her slightly cold body, she closed her eyes and could feel the relief. The relief of talking to herself and releasing her emotions that had slowly began to build over time about her long-time friend Steve. Finding closure to who she felt could be "the one", she smiled and slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Steve, you've been on your best behavior tonight for the prom and…for that I want to say thank you," Laura sighed, looking at Steve who was sitting a few feet away from her. It had been six months since she had that sleepless night thinking about the conversation she had with Maxine and the thoughts about Steve. Also, now that Steve had moved in with her and her family, it now made it a bit more complex about how to deal with her feelings for Steve. It was now the end of their prom night; the one Steve had been dreaming to go to with the woman he continually declared his love for. Laura agreed to go with Steve since Curtis was unable to come due to the funeral of his grandmother and Myra had caught pneumonia. Riding back home from the prom in the limousine Steve had rented for the night, they were both eerily silent during a majority of the trip until Laura had finally decided to break the ice.

"Say no more, my pet," Steve smiled, adjusting the collar of his tuxedo for a second. "It was well deserved."

"Well, we're here," Steve announced after another ten minutes of silence as the limousine parked in front of Laura's house. Both of them getting out, Steve tipped the limousine driver who gave a nod with a salute and drove off. Walking up the steps to Laura's front door, Steve opened it for her as she started to walk inside with Steve close behind. Stopping for a second before they could make their way upstairs, she turned back around and looked at Steve. Seeing the serious look on his face, Laura closed her eyes and sighed.

"_Am I really becoming more and more of a friend to Steve? Or could it be…even MORE than JUST a FRIEND?"_

_Yes._

_But…we'll have to see if it's one hundred percent sure that it's Steve before I even think about giving my all to him. Even if it's a year or two years from now. I don't want to be hurt again. Especially due to the fact that I don't know how I completely feel about Curtis now._

"Steve…"

"Yes, sweetums?"

"Thanks again," Laura stepped over to Steve and gave him a light peck on the cheek before heading upstairs. Smiling to himself, Steve began to strut into the kitchen to fix a last minute snack before bed.

"I'm wearin' her dowwwwwwwn, baby," Steve grinned before stepping inside the kitchen. "I'm wearin' her dowwwwwn!"

* * *

**The End!**


End file.
